"The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act sets up a system through which the US government can blacklist a pirate website from the Domain Name System, ban credit card companies from processing US payments to the site, and forbid online ad networks from working with the site. This morning, COICA unanimously passed the Senate Judiciary Committee."

Fortunately the bill does not give the government total control over the Internet. The proposed text (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:S.3804:) requires that orders to block sites be made by a court, mandates that the "blacklist" be public, and furthermore provides for judicial review by way of a civil lawsuit. Of course if you are an impoverished blogger or do not have access to the American legal system for some reason there is still no practical way to obtain relief.